Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has awarded a $240,000 grant to help Luther Seminary collect and make accessible microfilm copies of 16th Century European Reformation print materials and documents for historical theological education.
The Lutheran Grant will support the efforts of the seminary and its Thrivent Reformation Research Program’s “Project Wittenberg” complete a library of 40,000 titles that help build the history of the Reformation.
In the grant request, the late James Kittelson, Thrivent Reformation Research Program Director, wrote, “The program has become a central attraction for several top reformation scholars who have joined the seminary faculty. This in turn has helped integrate the program more fully into the general academic life.
“This year marks the beginning of the next phase of the Thrivent Reformation Research Program. As part of this final phase of integration into the library, we will continue to look for new and better ways to bring these treasures of the Lutheran heritage to the people of the church and beyond.”
“Thrivent Financial for Lutherans takes great pride in being able to help this useful and historic program,” said Jim Yagow, manager of Lutheran Community Relations for Thrivent Financial’s Church Relations. “Before his untimely death, James Kittelson did so much to help make this an outstanding collection of information that is important to so many. We know that James played a major role in turning over leadership of the program to the capable hands of Prof. Mary Jane Haemig. We also know that this program will be a legacy for generations to come from James Kittelson.We are honored to help a project run with such total dedication and commitment.”